Strong Leaders Serve with Teri Schmidt

199. Going beneath Authenticity, Autonomy & Accountability with Andrea Wanerstrand

• Teri Schmidt

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Have you ever wondered what truly sets great leaders apart in today’s fast-paced workplaces? In this episode, I talked with Andrea Wanerstrand, whose career spans Microsoft, Meta, T-Mobile, and more, to dig into the real meaning behind authenticity, autonomy, and accountability. Andrea shares eye-opening stories about breaking out of comfort zones, fostering trust, and the mindset shift needed to fuel powerful teams. Listen to discover practical tips you can use right away to inspire not just action, but true ownership in your organization.

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Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teri-m-schmidt/

Get 1-on-1 leadership support from Teri here: https://www.strongleadersserve.com/coaching

Set up an intro call with Teri: https://calendly.com/terischmidt/discoverycall

Have you ever noticed how some of the leadership buzzwords we hear most often sound simple in theory, but get incredibly messy in practice? Like the words, authenticity, autonomy, and accountability. We hear those all the time, but what do they really mean? Welcome back to Strong Leaders Serve, and our Beneath the Buzzword series where we go deeper than the LinkedIn sound Bites to uncover what these ideas really look like when you're in the middle of leading real people through real challenges. Today I'm joined by Andrea Warner Strand. A leadership strategist, executive coach, and cultural transformation expert with more than 25 years of experience inside some of the world's most complex organizations, including Microsoft Meta, T-Mobile, and Hitachi. She's the founder and CEO of a three Culture Lab, and the creator of the Mindset Maven Method, where she helps leaders make bold shifts from control to connection, performance to presence. Burnout to bold cultural influence. Andrea's A three philosophy. Authentic, autonomous, and accountable is the foundation of her mission to build extraordinary human-centric workplaces where people actually thrive. And as you'll hear, she brings a rare blend of neuroscience, behavioral strategy, and straight up clarity to help leaders change not just what they do, but how people feel when they work with them. Let's get beneath the buzzwords and explore what it truly takes to lead with authenticity, autonomy, and accountability. If you don't know me yet, I'm Terry Schmidt, executive and leadership Coach at Strong Leaders Serve, where we partner with organizations to prepare leaders for the everyday stretch moments of leadership. All those moments, both big and small, where leaders discover what got them to where they are right now. Will not get them to where they want to go. And this is the Strong Leaders Serve podcast.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Well, hello Andrea. Welcome to the Strong Leaders Serve Podcast.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Hi Terry. It's great to be here. Thank you for having me.

Have you ever noticed how some of the leadership buzzwords we hear most often, like authenticity, autonomy, and accountability, sound simple in theory, but get incredibly messy in practice? Welcome back to Strong Leader Serve and our Beneath the Buzzwords series where we go deeper than the LinkedIn soundbites to uncover what these ideas really look like when you're in the middle of leading real people through real challenges. Today I'm joined by Andrea Wand, a leadership strategist, executive coach, and cultural transformation expert with more than 25 years inside with more than 25 years of experience inside some of the world's most complex organizations, including Microsoft Meta, T-Mobile, and Hitachi. She's the founder and CEO of a three culture lab, and the creator of the mindset Maven Method, where she helps leaders make bold shifts from control to connection, performance to presence and burnout to bold cultural influence. Andrea's, a three philosophy. Authentic, autonomous, and accountable is the foundation of her mission to build extraordinary human-centric workplaces where people actually thrive. And as you'll hear, she brings a rare blend of neuroscience, behavioral strategy, and straight up clarity to help leaders change not just what they do, but how people feel when they work with them. So let's get beneath the buzzwords and explore what it truly takes to lead with authenticity, autonomy, and accountability. I'm Terry Schmidt, executive and leadership coach at Strong Leaders Serve. Where we partner with organizations to prepare leaders for the everyday big and small stretch moments of leadership. And this is The Strong Leaders Serve Podcast where we partner with organizations to prepare leaders for the everyday stretch moments of leader. Those both big, those big and small moments where leaders discover what got them there, won't get them to where they want to go, and this is the Strong Leaders Serve podcast. I.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Well, hello Andrea. Welcome to the Strong Leaders Serve Podcast.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Hi Terry. It's great to be here. Thank you for having me.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

I know your career has been quite extensive spanning Microsoft Meta T-Mobile, Hitachi, and now you have your own A three culture lab. So I'd like to jump right in and just. We'd love to hear a little bit about your journey and what experiences led you in particular to focus on authenticity, autonomy, and accountability.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

A really long story'cause I have been circling this earth for a while, but I actually was an IT program manager in telecommunications for the first 18 years. And around the early SI was working at T-Mobile and I was putting in HR systems the VP of HR called. day to her office and she's like, I gotta have a conversation with you. And when your stakeholder says that, you're like, oh. And she goes you're really good at your job. I go, in my mind, I'm like, this is not going in a great way. but I noticed that your eyes glaze over when you talk about bug reports and software next releases, but you really light up when you talk about the people side. And I've got a job for you. so she brought me on as her director of org effectiveness. I promptly went out and said to myself, I've gotta get something touchy feely,'cause I haven't worked in hr. So I went and got certified as an executive coach and that really started my journey of understanding the human centricity of our organizations. And while I'd been working at it from an angle of. Processes and procedures, really was able to dive in and had a real high interest in how do we drive performance? How do we have. Honest conversations that feel safe when there is a power dynamic. And fast forward 20 some odd years later and all the different places that you've listed out, plus a few more. I've had the opportunity to look at performance, look at leaders look at how change happens and how we use our mindsets to actually navigate in today's business world.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

I love the story about the leader just. Noticing that your eyes were glazing over when you were talking about bug reports, but that you did have that spark when it came to dealing with people and, and developing people.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

She definitely saw something in me and it took me a while for me to see what she

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

into it, but it was actually the start of imposter syndrome for me Like calling it that in 2004. But it also was a great way for me to learn from myself over the years, how our mindset and how we show up. Is really impactful to our own mind, body health and the way we have a career trajectory and how other people might feeling be feeling in the workplace with stress or imposter syndrome or whatever is the uncertainty or lack of confidence that might be at the forefront for them. So. A of empathy over the years in having been in that situation myself.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Yeah, I think that's, that's so key when we can take our own experiences and Recognize the struggles and, and the growth that has been part of that, and utilize that to support others.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Absolutely. Absolutely.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Which is actually a great transition because I wanted to go through, you know, you have three A words authenticity, autonomy, and accountability. And as you know, we're, we're doing a series called Beneath the Buzzwords, really to take those words that you hear a lot about on LinkedIn. And, you know, all leaders feel like they should know exactly what they mean and exactly how to implement them. And kind of going a little bit deeper to what makes. Implementing those words or adhering to those words a little bit difficult. And, and so as we think about authenticity, it's a word that we hear constantly. In practice, it can be really messy. And I wonder how you found that and if you even have a story, you know, from your work with a leader, where they discovered that showing up authentically required them to confront something uncomfortable within themselves.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

I have hundreds of stories of that,

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Go.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

but to address authenticity. So my A three is authenticity, autonomy, and accountability. And those three have a infinity loop, if you will. And the human aspect within an organization that wants to innovate and accelerate outcomes in today's marketplace, and also comes with that agility. Authenticity a leader is showing up with consistency. There's values aligned between their personal values and the company's values, and they are someone that actually fosters trust. And what I mean by that is when we show up as ourselves rather than with a mask, we're more consistent because in the fake it to make it, the problem is you will fail. And that's when that mask falls off. people don't know what to expect because you've given them a consistency that was a mask rather than yourself.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Yeah.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Terry, I'm not talking about oversharing here. I'm a

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Of like no foe crying. Vulnerability is important, but you don't have to overshare and you have to share in context,

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

but it's consistency of how you respond, how you interact with others, how you like. Set expectations and then hold others accountable. that is important'cause you have to have the right mindset. And that's where I, for another part of our conversation, the mindset, meth maven method that I implemented is really important so that you can stay balanced and be able to come in in a consistent manner

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

know. Whether you're, how even keeled you're gonna be over time, rather, is she gonna get upset about this or not upset about this? And how they can navigate. So

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Yeah.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

is based in consistency and values alignment.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

I wonder in your experience has the issue of like psychological safety come into play in concert with authenticity? Because I know, you know, for some people, a certain workplace or a certain context, they may not feel safe being. Authentic. What would you say about that?

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Yeah, so the tone starts with you as a leader. There's greater, greater organizational culture that or may not be aligned with your values, but the shadow that you cast as a leader or as a colleague, And living within your own values with consistency, honesty, reliability. There's a lot of great adjectives that we can put out there. And if you can look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say, I was true to myself. It doesn't again, mean oversharing. It doesn't mean like

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

confronting everything that's around you. There is, I think, a need for acknowledgement that there are political landscapes in

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

power dynamic in any organization. In fact, some of the smallest organizations I've seen have had higher political dynamic than I've seen in some of the largest organizations across the globe. So. Psychological safety, I usually say an environment of trust. I know that you've recently done an episode that was all on psychological safety, and I agree with all of the concepts there, but in a like day-to-day environment, do you have consistency in your actions that you've created, a trusting environment, and do you trust your team and does your team trust you? And if not, what's the under recurring fear that you have that you can't trust? Are they Are they not able to do it, or do you have a fear of letting go? And this starts bleeding into the autonomy

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

up. So when you're not authentic and you've got that mask on, people can see that it's a mask. And so you don't have psychological safety when you've got that mask up. So it's just more. Easy to bridge an environment of safety

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Yeah.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

and create that trust when you're authentic.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, so. I'm curious what makes authenticity so difficult? You referenced the fake it till you make it, and I, I think there are a lot of leaders, you know, particularly if maybe this is their first PE-people leadership role where that inner drive to fake it until you make it is so strong. What, what do you think causes that and, and how can leaders start overcoming that?

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

There's a cycle of our comfort zone, and when we're out of our comfort zone, we wanna put up a mask and pretend that we're there and we want to be comfortable. But there's no certainty every day we as humans are fed uncertainty, and that puts us in fight or flight as we go into protective mode. you know, you're sitting longer at the light than you anticipated and you can't get to the next appointment on time. Or somebody says that they're moving a decision to another time or somebody you know. Resigns from the team, or you find out there's a reorg, uncertainty that's floating around us. We wanna be seen in a certain light. We want to be liked, we want to be accepted. We, we want to be recognized. And a, a variety of adjectives for that as well. But the hard part is understanding. When we're outside of our comfort zone, how to still be ourselves in that moment And that vulnerability that's at play that doesn't have to release all of the emotions that you're feeling.'cause emotions are electrically charged. You've got a good belly lack. Stop laughing. that emotion getting up. You've got nervousness, you're gonna have some tells in your body of tightening, of your shoulders, heartbeat going higher. Maybe you flush a little bit on your neck or your voice intonation changes. So what's hard about being authentic is comfortable in the uncomfortable aspect.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

When we face uncertainty in an unknown. And being able to navigate that. I often say the journey to confidence is to the level of I'm confident that no matter what I'm thrown at, I will navigate through it. Not necessarily perfectly, but I will get through it and I can count on that.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

But confidence is a never ending cycle because we're always being pushed out of our comfort zone. Anytime we're entering something new,

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's, that's a great point. And, and something to aim for in terms of confidence. It's not, you're confident doing every single skill, but you're, you're confident that you will be able to navigate that. I love that you started talking a little bit about autonomy, so why don't we go there next? It o often gets oversimplified. I think, you know, people, you know, say, I, I give my team autonomy and it, it's. Thought of, well, basically I gave them the project, threw it in their lap, and, and we're done with it. But I know that you have a much deeper meaning of autonomy and, and some practices that align with that. So I'd love to hear from your perspective what autonomy looks like and what does it take for a leader to truly give autonomy, especially when their own reputation is on the line.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Absolutely. So one of the largest shifts we have when we move into people management is we are now part of our job description, getting things done through others. We're not doing it ourselves. And so when we're doing things through others. We have to set expectations, and just because you told them doesn't mean what you told them is what they heard.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

about how do you validate those expectations, and there's a full process around validating expectations. to back it up a little bit, autonomy is not abandonment. It's not the I, I gave it to them, or I told them that, that they're autonomous and they need to handle it. Have you actually the environment in the culture to create that autonomy? IE do they have an expectation that for every step they have to come back and check with you? That's not autonomy, that's just stepped back direction. And are you able to set expectation, hold them accountable in a way that allows you Oversight but not micromanage it. Have you educated them what autonomy means? so we often say, yeah, you're empowered, or you're, you're autonomous. But then we wanna have'em check on every step with us. Don't pass, go until you get approval. have you thought about doing it this way and start prescribing A through Z as to what they're to do than moving to support function. of service to them in a support function of, Hmm, what's your thinking on this? Now that we we're clear on where we're need to go with it, what are your thoughts on how you're going to do that? And then simply get curious and listen. And you can help course correct. And you can say, great, now you can move into accountability.'cause they've just told you how they're gonna do it and you're either validating or you're course correcting and go great. How should we keep abreast of status on this going moving forward? What are some milestones? What are we gonna do? And then they come up with the, well, let's check back in another two weeks and I'll give you an update on this. Great. Two weeks come out from now. everything they said they were gonna do, either done or they haven't. then it was their idea to begin with so you can hold them accountable versus if you direct everything. You don't have autonomy you want them to have accountability, but it's the accountability of what you said needed to be done versus what they've agreed to get done.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Yeah. I love that process and the, the integration and the curiosity as opposed to just repeat back to me what I just told you you're going to do and, and how you're going to do it. Especially, you know, when leaders might have the urge to hold onto things themself because they're so used to being the person who gets things done. What advice do you have for them to move toward the approach that you were just describing?

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Get curious in the aspect, what if they have a different and better way? We always tend to think, well, I'm experienced at this. I was the ex. I executed this for years. I know the way, and in today's work environment, things are changing so often. So while there's great wisdom and truth to that, also could be faster ways to do standard operating procedures or get client info, and you wanna spark innovation and creativity. If you're prescribing it versus de describing it.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

here's the end state I'd love us to get to versus prescribing how you're gonna get there. You're allowing for innovation in your team. You're allowing for new ways to come forth that can optimize. That doesn't mean just put'em out on their own and they're free willing and, and. Could do it any way you want. Set the expectations of what does quality look like, what does good look like?

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Because again, as a leader, you're moving from the executor of tasks and and deliverables to moving, to getting things done through others. That's the role of a people manager.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

I've had different conversations with different guests about autonomy on the podcast. One that comes to mind is with s Koenig of Humble Leadership and one of the. Things he was talking about is how giving people autonomy, even though it seems like it could be a slower process, actually increases the efficiency of an organization. I think I've heard you talk about how implementing this keeps your team from being too overdependent on you so that you're in a sense, kind of a, a block in the process. So I'd love to hear about how you've seen that happen with some of the leaders you've worked with in that, you know, taking this extra time to. Go through this process upfront has really helped them to increase their efficiency of their team in the long run.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Yeah, and it. We think of it as extra time upfront, if you have to keep revisiting the conversation. I met with a leader that I coach just a week ago even, and they're like, out of my leadership team, I've got this one person and I keep, they're complaining how many meetings I'm having, but I need to understand that they understand so, and every time we get together, he just doesn't seem to get it. And I'm like, well, have you validated that? He's hearing what you think you've said, and was like don't, I, I don't know. have he, he's like, I, I know he knows the answer. I know he knows how to do this. Him and his team are, are brilliant. They've done these things before I go. But does he feel he needs your approval every time he's coming to you and they had to really think about that and they're going well? Yeah. So the onus isn't completely on the employee. Are we setting up an environment where they're coming to us, we're getting frustrated because they keep coming to us and expecting us to give them the answer, but we've set that expectation to begin with. So yes, that becomes overdependence on you for, for. I had another client, uh, a, a VP in an organization who really, at that level should be like, everything should be going through the team, and folks were coming to her for tactical things and she goes, I, I just don't get it. Why are they doing that? And I go, well. How much do you trust your team? Well, I trust them. I was like, do you trust them with all the details? Well, sometimes they don't get it. All right. Okay. Do you critique'em? At that point? They don't wanna get critiqued, so they're coming back to you. That's another example. Sometimes it's us helping them out. Sometimes it's a direct consequence of something that they don't want to have happen. So they're

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

you and again, we're creating a beast of our own.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Yeah.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

When it, if we simply step back and set the expectation, here's what we're gonna achieve, here's what I think good looks like. Now let's walk through how you think you're gonna achieve this. then even asking, what do you need from me

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

to You don't have to agree to what they ask for.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Yeah.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

And then, okay, will we know we're getting there and when should we check in that that that's occurring?

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I appreciate, you know, I hear in your answer to the, the mindset that is necessary to do that in a effective way, the validation process. It's not, I'm asking you how are you going to do it so I can test if your answer matches my answer perfectly, and if not, you know, I'm gonna change it. Obviously. Yes. As you mentioned, there's some course correction at times, but it's not just a quiz. It really is a curiosity of how, how do you plan to go about it?

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Yes, and it's a collaboration.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

So there are times when you do need to be directive and you need to teach them maybe they don't understand something. It's new to them. So if you're like throwing it completely in their plate and

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

it to'em, well, you're not setting them up for success.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Right.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

what do you need to do to set them up for success so that they can actually achieve it? when you do that, you create through true autonomy, you create ownership.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

And you look at companies like Bear who quote, got rid of their middle managers. And what they're doing though is trying to create ownership of the accountability area for each individual across the organization.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

And and so what you see there from a behavior perspective is do you run your portion, your role as if it's even a micro business within the larger

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

And when you create ownership, people start thinking of things a little differently than I'm doing this because, know, Mary told me I'm supposed to do this step.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. It becomes much more, much more meaningful and they take much more, like you said, ownership of it. Well onto the accountability. I know we, again, started talking about it a little bit already, but I would say it's probably one of the most talked about practices in leadership, but. Perhaps one of the least consistently applied because I think leaders get in kind of a pendulum where they go to one, one side or the other. And sometimes, you know, they may mistake accountability for what is actually micromanagement. So can you share an example again of a leader you've worked with who moved from seeing accountability as punishment to accountability as a pathway to growth?

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Well, I ran the performance management programs both at Microsoft and T-Mobile. So I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. And the ugly generally has lots of surprises. People didn't know. the expectations were. Everybody waits until that last moment to give feedback. So timely feedback in the moment, in the flow of work, of feedback, both cons, always constructive reen, encourage continuation of great behavior or move something from good to great. Or identifying development opportunities of how things could be done different next time critical. For saving yourself from the dreaded accountability or annual performance discussion or quarterly, whenever the rhythm of the business is for where you you work. And what's important in that comes back to that autonomy. Did you set expectations, patients

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

and when they're more invested and involved. Notice I didn't say engaged. Right, but when they're more invested and involved in the, the outcomes that they're doing are of some of their own creation. Regarding how the path forward, that accountability is more ingrained. They have more of that ownership. I said this would be the way forward now it, then what do you do when they either get it right? You should be celebrating that account with accountability

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

or if you're noticing things are going awry on the agreed upon check-in points, you course correct. And if everything goes sideways, how do you turn that into learning? So if you're able to do that all in the moment of business, you're a salesperson out on a sales call with what somebody on your sales team, or you've watched a great customer interaction with somebody on your frontline, or whether you're seeing some great. Thought leadership from a junior member as an example in a strategy session. Acknowledging that giving them the credit is a good way to practice the upside of accountability. And then I often say, be kind over being nice. What I mean by that is a kind leader. Steps in and has the courage to say the hard, constructive thing

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

gonna move that individual forward in growth and the organization forward. A nice leader, it's all about you. When you're trying to be

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

like me. Is this gonna be comfortable? Is this gonna be uncomfortable? So as you're giving that feedback and as you're holding them accountable. Check in with yourself. Are you making it about you or are you making it about them and the organization and what needs to be achieved

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Yeah. Yeah,

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

yourself in that kind zone.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

definitely, definitely. Yeah, I use that distinction quite frequently. I talk about how, you know, being nice is about keeping everyone comfortable yourself and the other person being kind is, is sharing what is really needed for growth.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Absolutely. Absolutely. And so when we do all of that, accountability just becomes part of what we do. And it's not just a manager to employee, perspective, it's peer to peer you to client following through. Being known for somebody that's reliable and honest or, and ownership and admits when they didn't get it all right. That the infinity loop for authenticity.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

How you show up in that moment when you're holding others accountable, makes all the differences to whether you have trust and whether you're gonna achieve the goals of the organization and as individuals.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I love, love how that wraps right back around there. Before we move on to a couple of closing questions, I do have to ask, I'm intrigued that you intentionally didn't say engaged and you, you pointed that out. Tell me a little bit more about that.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

There's a lot of conversation about employee engagement.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Everything from quiet, quitting et cetera. And you can tell if people are in the act of being engaged, if they're taking ownership, if they take things seriously, if they really want to have banter, and, and if not engaged, it's not necessarily about that individual. It could be about the culture and the environment.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

You talked about psychological safety. Is it okay to talk about the elephant that's in the room?

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Is it, is there gonna be consequences for bringing up the elephant in the room? So I, engagement to me is more on the organization than it is on the individual. And so that's where I. Don't bring it in, into the dynamic of the conversation between you and another.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Yep.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

'Cause it, they can look engaged. I mean, when you're on a teams call or sitting across from each other, you are looking at each other. You are engaging, right?

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

That doesn't mean they're engaged as an employee. And I, I leave that as a different topic.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Yeah, very true, very true. Thanks for that clarification and explanation. Let's, let's talk about a big scale as, as we get closer to the end of our time today. So when you have these three A's when they're alive in a leader, how does the culture shift?

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

People fail fast. So that's a learning culture

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

with today's environment, especially with AI and the smallness of the world, the internet and everything that it's done in the last 20 some odd years for us connects people and moves people faster and faster. So the ability to really. Accelerate and be agile and fail fast and learn from it all while keeping out of toxic habits that can create a toxic culture

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

so that people don't burn out and have physical consequence to the stress of the when. I've seen teams at the highest performing. The A three were there. And that's part of why from my years of work I derived what are the top three things

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

that are the difference between, even within a large company, the subcultures, difference that I, I see in between a very high performing team that has the same resources, same budget, same you know, infrastructure. Same level of talent and one that doesn't succeed. It's the A three.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's very, very powerful. And I, you know, if there's a leader listening today and want, they wanna take, you know, one step this week. You mentioned the Infinity Loop, so I wonder if it starts with authenticity, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on, you know, what, what would be one courageous step they could take this week to get started improving the A three.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Ask yourself.'cause you can only influence and you have control over how you show up. So ask how do I wanna make people feel after they interact with me?

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

remember how you made'em feel, not how, what you said, in that moment. Okay,

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Mm-hmm.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

how do you want them to feel in order to get the outcome of any interaction that you have? And it can be as simple as a pause, just a few moments before you go into any interaction with a big, deep breath to help reset your nervous system and ask yourself how you wanna make them feel. then set your intention of you're gonna show up in a way that actually can make that come true.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Hmm. That's beautiful and, and so simple and, and something that is easy to start right away. So I hope, hope all our leaders out there will take that to heart and, and take that first step this week. So I've really enjoyed our conversation. If a listener wants to learn more about you and your work, where's the best place for them to go?

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

You can find more about what I'm doing on a regular basis on LinkedIn on my profile for Andrea Tand. You can also find out more about my speaking and workshop information on a three culture lab.com a few times a year I run a cohort called the Mindset Moven Lab. Free lab. It's the mindset maven method, and you can find maven.com.

teri_1_10-14-2025_160708:

Excellent. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I, I really appreciate it and enjoyed our conversation.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

Oh, so did I, Terry, thank you for having me. I love the great work you and the team are

Well, thanks again to Andrea for coming on and having this conversation, and thank you for joining us today and joining us. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Strong Leaders Serve. If something in this conversation helped you pause, reflect, or see your leadership in a new way, I'd love for you to share it with another leader who's ready to grow with intention. You can find more resources, coaching opportunities, and past episodes@strongleadersserve.com. Or by connecting with me on LinkedIn. And remember, until next time and until next time, remember, every intentional step you take as a leader strengthens the people who walk beside you, strengthens the people who walk beside you.

andrea-wanerstrand--she-her-_1_10-14-2025_140708:

doing, and I think the world needs more of the messages that you're bringing forth on this podcast. So thank you.

Well, thank you again to Andrea for a great conversation and thank you for joining us on this episode of Strong Leaders Serve. If something in this conversation helped you to pause, reflect, or see leadership in a new way, I'd love for you to share it with another leader who's ready to grow with intention. You can find more resources, coaching opportunities, and past episodes of@strongleadersserve.com or by connecting with me on LinkedIn. And until next time, remember, every intentional step you take as a leader strengthens the people who walk beside you.